Rosebuds & Elderflowers
by Kalacakra108
Summary: Short stories and drabbles about my favourite Heroes OC, Princess Veronica, and her interactions with the Order of Heroes. (Not canon to WWTSLP?)
1. The Princess & the Little Dragon

**AN** : Hello, everyone! I'm here with a new little collection of short drabbles and such about my favourite Heroes OC, Princess Veronica. None of the stories in here are going to necessarily be canon to _WWTSLP?_ , but they will probably still be Kiran x Veronica focused with a smattering of tales about Veronica's interactions with other FE characters. I'll be taking ideas for shorts on my Twitter, ( )kalacakra108, where you can follow me and keep up to date with my art and writing. If you have an idea you want me to write about, just tweet me! The idea for this fic came from ( )Cinos_Ben on Twitter.

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 **Rosebuds & Elderflowers**

 _The Princess & the Little Dragon_

Veronica flushed as Kiran wrapped his arms around her waist. She had invited him to join her for a ride on her horse around the castle grounds that evening, but even after having been a member of the Order for nearly two months, she still found it difficult to deal with physical intimacy. Not long after she had heard Kiran's voice calling her name from across worlds did Veronica find herself becoming allies with those whom she had once despised. From the time she woke up in the morning until the time she went to sleep at night, spending time with Kiran had become one of the biggest joys in her life—and not simply since her arrival. She often looked forward to seeing him every day and felt her heart beat a little faster every time he smiled at her. Much to her surprise, the one who summoned her, despite having had to fend off his world's counterpart bore neither of them any ill-will, and, in fact, had become one of her only—but also closest—friends in the span of a few weeks.

The pair rode across the moonlit fields of the castle grounds for a while, simply enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through their hair and the brilliant full moon. As the night chill settled over the land, they decided to turn in for the night and rode back to the castle at a more sedate pace. They made their way through the royal gardens, which looked breathtaking in the silvery light of the moon, and as they passed by an elderflower bush, Kiran broke off a spray of little white flowers and held it in front of Veronica.

"For you, Princess," he whispered with a smile.

Her face coloured. "Th-thank you…" She held the flowers close to herself, marveling at the little white stars.

After unsaddling Veronica's horse and brushing her down, the pair left the stables and headed back inside the castle to retire for the night. They lingered at the stairwell, neither wishing to head their separate ways and bring an end to their night's adventure.

The princess looked up at the summoner shyly. He, in turn, smiled and gently wrapped his arms around her. "Good night, Veronica," he whispered, his voice warm. "I'll see you again tomorrow."

She worked up the courage to hug him back, blushing all the while, and nodded, unable to trust her own voice. Kiran let go of her before taking one of her hands in his and raising it to his lips. "Good night, your Highness." She flushed a rather charming shade of red before turning around and running up the stairs that led to the women's quarters.

Kiran chuckled and shook his head as he took the stairs that led to the men's quarters on the other side of the castle.

•

Upon reaching her room, Veronica quickly slammed the door shut behind her. She leaned back against the solid wood as she tried to catch her breath, elderflowers clutched against her chest. She brought one trembling hand up to her cheeks only to feel the heat on them. All of this was so new to her. Kiran had always made her feel so…safe and welcome, but recently she had begun to feel something else as well, though she knew not how to call it. His sight, his smiles, his scent, his touch—all of these things lit a fire within her that made her face burn bright red whenever she was around or even simply thinking about him. Shakily, she stood back up chastising herself for losing her self-control, and put the flowers in a vase on the windowsill that she filled with water. The princess admired the moonlight hitting the little white blossoms and making them shine like stars, before stepping into the bath and getting ready for bed.

Hardly had she lain down and thrown her covers over herself when she heard the door slowly creak open, startling her. As the light streamed in from the hallway. a little hooded form darkened her doorway and she heard the sound of sniffling. The little figure wobbled towards her bed and hopped up onto it without a word before tucking herself in under the covers. Finding her voice, Veronica looked down at the little one in her bed, before clearing her throat. "Tiki? What are you doing here?"

The little manakete whimpered before whispering back. "I—I had a bad dream and I couldn't go back to sleep on my own." Veronica looked at her face and saw the traces of unshed tears sparkling in her eyes. They had been teammates since the little dragon-girl's arrival not too long ago, but Veronica had never really spent much time talking to her outside of battle. The little one balled her fists up and sobbed lightly. "There was a very bad man…a-and he made me hurt a lot of people—even Mar-Mar!" That seemed to be the final straw for the girl and she began to bawl. Veronica glanced around awkwardly. She had hardly ever spoken to the little one and now she was here in her bed, crying. She recalled Kiran's interactions with the other Heroes and tried to emulate him. Hesitantly, Veronica reached for little Tiki and tried rubbing her back as soothingly as she could.

She whispered to the little dragon. "There, there." She patted Tiki's head and wiped away her tears as she began to calm down. Eventually, she stopped crying looked back up at the princess.

"Is it alright if I sleep here, Ro-Ro?" she asked innocently.

"Ro-Ro?…Erm, are you sure?"

"Yes. I don't want to be alone anymore," Tiki sniffed.

"But…are you sure I'm…you're fine with me?"

"Uh-huh, you're really nice and Ki-Ki likes you too, so I'm sure you're a good person."

Veronica felt her cheeks turn red at mention of Kiran. "O-oh. He does?"

The little dragon yawned, starting to feel warm and comfy in Veronica's arms. "Yeah…good nigh…t."

The princess sighed, knowing she wouldn't get another word out of her guest, and decided to turn in for the night herself.

•

After they woke up the next day, Veronica found that Tiki had become rather attached to her, and didn't want to leave her. She clambered up onto Veronica's lap as the princess was brushing her silvery hair, asking her to brush hers for her as well.

Not long after, they heard a voice calling from down the hall.

"…ki! Where are you, Tiki?"

The sound of footsteps grew close until they stopped at Veronica's door and Kiran peered in, looking for Tiki, only to see her sitting on Veronica's lap, who was only wearing a thin silken nightgown that left her arms bare. He felt his face heat up and rocketed back. "S-sorry, I was, uh…" he said dumbly. The door swung open to reveal the older Tiki, wondering what Kiran had stopped for.

Little Tiki hopped off of Veronica's lap, all thoughts of hair-brushing forgotten, and ran towards the two of them. "Ki-ki! Me-me!" she cried, leaping up to hug her older self who smiled and caught her before spinning her around in her arms, much to her delight.

"I didn't see you in your room this morning when I came to wake you up and I got worried," Tiki said, poking her younger self in the nose, who giggled and rubbed it to get rid of the tingly feeling.

"I had a bad dream so I came to sleep with Ro-Ro! She took care of me last night!" the little manakete exclaimed cheerfully, smiling widely.

"Thank you, Princess," the older dragon said, bowing slightly.

"Oh…it was nothing. You're my teammates, and…my friends?" she answered hesitantly.

"Of course," said the older Tiki with a smile.

"Yeah, thank you, 'Ro-Ro'," Kiran added with a teasing smile, causing the princess to blush bright red and huff as she crossed her arms and turned away from him, making him chuckle. "Well, since we're all here, why don't we go down and have breakfast together?"

And the four of them enjoyed their morning, eating and laughing together.


	2. The Princess & a Kiss

**Rosebuds & Elderflowers**

 _The Princess & a Kiss_

Veronica awoke one February morn to the sight of bright sunlight streaming in through her chamber's windows from the courtyard of the palace of the Order of Heroes. She stretched her arms and wiped her eyes before taking off her nightcap and leaving the warmth of her bed.

The once and future princess shivered at the morning chill before tossing on a warm robe to cover her nightgown, and walked towards the window. The joyous shrieking of children's voices filled the air. Down below, the Summoner, Kiran, was playing with some of the little manakete children, having a snowball fight. It looked like the odds were stacked against him, though, as he faced off against Fae, Tiki, and Myrrh by himself while his teammate, the older Tiki, snoozed behind the walls of snow they had constructed, wrapped up in a puffy red jacket. Unfortunately, the combined power of the three little dragons proved to be too much for the single combatant, and he fell in combat to a flurry of snowballs followed by three flying tackles that knocked him to the ground. The sound of their laughter rose up to the princess' window, and a slight smile graced her face once she heard it.

In that instant, Kiran's eyes, no longer hidden by his hood, happened to look up in her direction, catching her gaze before crinkling at the corners as he smiled at her as brightly as the sunlight for which he was named. Veronica felt herself warm up at the sight as she flushed from head to toe.

Lately, she and Kiran had been spending even more time together than they used to. When not on missions, the two would take walks or horseback rides around the castle it was warmer, they would often carry some food with them and have picnics on the gentle, grassy hills that surrounded their base, spending hours together in the outdoors just eating and conversing and generally enjoying each others company. Due to the colder weather recently, however, they would often eschew their trips outside in favour of simply spending the day indoors, curled up next to the fire place in the Great Hall, reading or talking. Many times, their talks would go on long into the night, until there were but a few hours left before dawn before either of them would realize it. Veronica's pale cheeks turned pink as she looked down at the smiling summoner and hesitantly waved at him.

He managed to pull one arm free from the dragonpile and waved back up at her cheerfully, before crawling out from underneath the dragons who decided to join their older counterpart in taking a nap.

A few minutes later, Veronica, who was brushing her hair, heard a knocking on her door. She opened it to find the Summoner on the other side, holding two steaming mugs.

"Hey, Veronica," he said with a soft smile. "Did we wake you up?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not at all. I had already gotten up and was pleased to see the sun again," she answered, setting down her hairbrush.

"Oh thank goodness. I brought us some hot chocolate, and I was wondering if you'd like to go down to the courtyard and take a walk as we drink it there. We haven't gone out in a while and this should stave off the cold."

"That sounds ideal, Kiran," she answered, slipping on her coat. She put a hat on her head and tied a muffler around her neck before taking one of the mugs from him as they left the room.

•

A little while later, the two of them found themselves in the courtyard of the Order's castle, seated on a bench under a tree as they sipped their cocoa. The dragons appeared to have disappeared. Most likely, they were all sleeping together in a giant pile in Tiki the Elder's room, since she had taken it on herself to act as their caretaker while they were here.

Kiran's arm brushed slightly against Veronica's as he lifted his cup to drink. The princess looked around, a light pinkish hue on her cheeks before slowly leaning her head against Kiran's shoulder, who looked over in surprise.

"I-is this not alright?" the princess asked uncertainly, looking up at him with those bright red eyes he admired so much.

"H-huh? No—no it's, you're alright. I was just taken aback," he chuckled nervously. He took a breath before relaxing and leaning back in his seat.

The pair sat like that for a while until their drinks ran out. After the last drops of the rich chocolate trickled into their mouths, Kiran suddenly stood up stuck one hand out towards the princess. "Come on! Let's go play in the snow!"

"Er…play in the snow? Isn't that a bit chi—" she stopped mid-sentence, recalling what she had seen him doing just earlier that morning and flushed.

Kiran, however, burst out laughing. "Were you just about to say that it's a bit childish?" he asked, wiping a tear from his eye. "W-well, I suppose it is. It's just been a while since I've seen this much snow all at once. Where I come from is a lot warmer than Askr and Embla, so even though we do on occasion get snow, it's almost never as much as this. So come on! I want to build a snowman or something," he said, taking the her hand. The princess stood up, and with a smile, nodded.

The two whiled away the next hour or so playing around in the snow without a care. They built a whole army of snowmen and had another snowball fight before falling to the ground in exhaustion, laughing all the while. After catching his breath, Kiran stood up and walked around a pair of bushes before bending down as Veronica looked on curiously.

He returned a few seconds later with his hands behind his back before sitting down again next to the princess.

"Veronica?" the Summoner asked hesitantly.

"Yes? What is it?"

"H-have I ever told you what's so important about this day?"

"About today?" she asked, sitting up. A few flakes of snow clung to the lashes of her eyes, which made them sparkle in the morning sunlight, causing Kiran's heart to skip a beat as he kept staring at her pale, lily-white face that was coloured with just the slightest hint of red on her nose and cheeks from the cold, giving her the appearance of a fine porcelain doll. "Kiran?" she said curiously, breaking him from his reverie.

He took a shaky breath and shook his head before speaking. "Veronica, in the world I come from, this day is a day of celebration, known as Saint Valentine's Day."

One of Veronica's favourite pastimes was to hear Kiran's tales of his homeland. Ever since she was young, reading about the history of Embla and visiting the various provinces of the Empire had been something that she had greatly enjoyed, and having a source of knowledge and history of an entirely different world nearby, such as Kiran, had been nothing less than a blessing for her. Thanks in part to speaking with him (and having more free time due to the weather), she had been spending more time in the Royal Archives, reading up on the history of Askr from their own perspective, as well as compiling a journal filled with all the stories Kiran told her about the world from which he hailed. She had even gotten him to promise to one day take her to his world so that she might see it for herself with him at her side.

"Saint…Valentine's Day?"

"That's right. Nowadays, it's usually just called Valentine's Day, though that's not really important for now. I actually don't know how this day came to be celebrated, as it comes from different culture to mine, but it ended up spreading over the world and changed meaning little by little until it became what it is today."

The princess looked on rapturously with wide eyes that sparkled like rubies in the sunlight.

"What it means now…" Kiran said, trying to find the right words. "It's a day when people give things like flowers and sweets to those with whom they are closest as a means of expressing their affection—to show them how much they care for them…for their presence in their lives."

A light pinkish glow settled on Veronica's cheeks as she heard Kiran's words. That sounded like such a lovely festival, but the way he was putting it, it seemed almost like…

"It's the day people are called upon to demonstrate their devotion to the people for whom they care the most…" Kiran took a deep breath to steady his nerves before continuing. "That is to say…it's the day we show people just how much we love them."

The princess' breath hitched in her throat as Kiran brought his hands out from behind his back. In one hand, he held a bouquet of bright red roses, that stood out against the white surroundings as starkly and beautifully as freshly spilt blood on snow. In the other was a shiny red box in the shape of a heart, wrapped with a golden ribbon. His ears began to burn red, though whether it was from the cold or his feelings he knew not.

"Veronica, will you be my Valentine?"

The princess snatched the flowers and chocolates from his hands before hiding her bright red face behind them in embarrassment. After her heart stopped pounding, she peeked over the top of the roses, still blushing profusely, before nodding shyly.

Kiran leapt forward with a cry of joy and wrapped both arms around Veronica, hugging her tightly.

"Ah!" she squeaked out in surprise as she fell backwards into the snow, bringing Kiran down with her. The two of them landed side by side, the cold white substance softening the impact.

•

Close. She was…her face. It was so close. He was sure could count the lashes framing her eyes.

' _I can feel her breath on my face…'_

So faint and sweet…it brushed against his nose, tickling him. A small smile flowered on his face at the sensation.

"Kiran…"

Veronica's voice, unusually quiet and plaintive, broke him from his thoughts. He looked at her, only to be drawn into the crimson depths of her eyes, which shone and sparkled against the snowy whiteness of her skin lit by the late morning sun. A pinkish flush had spread across her face, making her look even more adorable in Kiran's eyes. Her little pink lips shone. She looked up at him, almost pleadingly, with an expression that pierced his heart. There was no way he could hold back any longer.

"Veronica…" he whispered back, raising a hand to cup her cheek. He felt his face draw closer to her, all thoughts of the cold around them gone from his mind as a fire burnt in his breast, impelling him towards her.

The princess turned red, scrunching her eyes shut. Kiran stopped. Veronica brought one hand up to cover his, reveling in his warmth for a few moments before hesitantly opening her eyes again. She looked into his eyes shyly, blushing now to the tips of her ears, before giving him a small nod. The two drew closer to each other. Veronica slid her hand over to Kiran's cheek, mirroring his position.

There, on that winter's day, amidst the pure white snow, with the birds singing their songs and the sun shining from high above as witness, the two, for the first time, pressed their lips against each other's, in what would be the first in a history of many kisses.

But that's a story for another time.

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 **AN** : Thank you for reading.


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